Supposedly for the convenience of the consumer, most beverage cans today are equipped with a lid having a scored closure therein which can be manually displaced from the remainder of the lid to provide access to the contents. Such cans are often referred to as having a "pop-top", because of the sound characteristically emitted upon displacement of the closure. Two types of pop-top cans are most prevalent. In the first, a ring-like manipulating member is attached to the scored closure. The consumer grasps the ring member and by lifting and moving the ring member away from the can, removes the scored closure from the can lid. Another popular form of pop-top can has a scored closure which can be displaced inwardly of the can from the lid while remaining attached to the lid. This type of closure is manipulated by means of a lever which is attached to the closure and extends part way across the top surface of the lid.
In both forms of pop-top cans referred to above the manually actuated manipulating members lie in close proximity to the top surface of the lid prior to use and preferably do not protrude above the can rim to minimize interference with stacking and/or packaging of the can. In such a position both the ring-like member and the lever must be pried away from the top surface of the can in order to initiate displacement of the closure. For most people, this act can inflict pain and injury on the finger and/or fingernail used to pry the manipulating member away from the can lid. Repetitive opening of such cans, as is required of servers in commercial establishments, can inflict serious injury to the servers' finger.
These difficulties associated with manipulating closures for pop-top cans have, of course, been recognized by others. And a number of proposals have been made for tools to be used to manipulate the closures so that one's hand is not required to contact the closure manipulating member directly. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,459,075, 3,656,375, 4,133,228, and 4,207,781 all disclose implements for opening pop-top cans having tear-away closures with ring-like manipulating members. Generally speaking, all of the implements disclosed in these patents are bulky and complex and therefore fairly expensive to manufacture. Above all, none of the implements there disclosed are truly suitable for being carried on one's person, say in a pocket on a keyring. And the implements disclosed in these four patents are especially adapted for opening the ring-type tear-away closure and are not suitable for assisting in opening cans having the closures which are merely displaced and remain attached to the can.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,253,352 and 4,309,921 disclose fairly simple straight forward implements for opening the latter type closure, but none of the devices there disclosed are capable of actuating the tear-away closures. Moreover, the implements disclosed in these two patents are intended to be fabricated from metal, with the result that both the material costs and manufacturing costs tend to be high in comparison with injection molded plastic implements.